ITHACA, N.Y. — The sprint football team will try to make it two wins in a row on Friday night when it heads to Penn to take on the undefeated Quakers in a Collegiate Sprint Football League matchup.
 
GAME INFORMATION
GAME #6: Cornell Big Red at Penn Quakers
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Franklin Field — Philadelphia, Pa.
2016 RECORDS: Cornell 2-3, Penn 5-0
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE UPDATES: @CUBigRedGameday
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell heads into the game against Penn fresh off the first home win of the 2016 season on Friday  night. The Big Red scored 21 points in the second half to earn the 27-13 win, getting a huge performance from senior quarterback Rob Pannullo. …  Cornell opened the season up at home against a tough Navy team on Sept. 17, losing 40-7, before hitting the road and heading to Mansfield where it got its first win of the season, 30-12, on Sept. 24. A week later, Cornell fought back from a 16-point deficit against Chestnut Hill and took a one point lead in the fourth quarter only to see the Griffins score a touchdown in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. The Big Red then played a third straight game on the road, losing to defending CSFL champion Army Wes Point, 43-12. ... Junior running bac Evan Ball is fourth overall in the league with 254 yards rushing while senior quarterback Rob Pannullo is fifth overall with 239. Pannullo sits seventh in the league in total offense, having gained a total of 687 yards. Freshman Will Griffen is third in the league in all-purpose yards with 557.
 
ABOUT ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH TERRY CULLEN
Terry Cullen, The Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football, has been the patriarch of the program at Cornell for 53 years after joining his father, former head coach Bob Cullen, in 1964. In his 53-year tenure, Terry Cullen has an overall record of 235-216-11 and his record as head coach is 176-151-7. Cullen has had two undefeated seasons (2006 and 1982) and won six league championships. His title was endowed in 2001 and, in 2008, he requested to relinquish some of his everyday coaching duties to co-head coach Bart Guccia.
 
ABOUT CO-HEAD COACH BART GUCCIA
This is Guccia's 12th season as a member of the sprint football staff and his eighth as a co-head coach. Since Guccia joined the Big Red staff in 2005, the team is a combined 45-35. As co-head coaches, Guccia and Cullen have amassed a 32-29 record.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior quarterback Rob Pannullo was named the CSFL Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 25 for his instrumental role in Cornell's 27-13 win over Post Schoellkopf Field. Pannullo had a hand in three of the Big Red's four touchdowns. He was 7-of-14 for 88 yards and a touchdown through the air and also showed off his legs, running for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. Pannullo, who racked up 228 yards of total offense, led scoring drives of 40, 64, 69 and 73 yards.
 
THE LEADING RUSH
Freshman Will Griffen currently holds the title of longest rush of the CSFL season with a 69-yard burst against Chestnut Hill on Sept. 30. That rush helped bring Griffen's yards per play average in that game to 18.5, which is a single-game high for total offensive yards per play in a CSFL game this year.
 
HOME AGAIN
Prior to the home game against Post on Oct. 21, Cornell had played three straight games away from Schoellkopf Field. It was just the third time in 22 years that the program played three straight away games. The last came during 2014 season when the Big Red lost to Penn and Army before taking on and beating Princeton, 55-0. In 1994, the team had to travel in consecutive weeks to take on Penn, Princeton, and Army. 
 
THE LONE ONSIDE
With its successful onside kick attempt against Army, Cornell became the only team this year in the CSFL to recover an onside kick attempt.
 
PRODUCTIVE PUNTER
After six weeks of CSFL play, senior punter Ryan Jackson sits second overall in the league in punting. Jackson has punted 20 times for 715 yards, and his resulting 35.8 yards per punt average is third best. His 49-yard boot in the third quarter against Chestnut Hill is the fifth-longest punt in the league this year.
 
CAPTAIN QUINTUPLE
Cornell is led this year by five senior captains. The offense is represented by quarterback Rob Pannullo, running back Kevin Nathanson and lineman Caleb Minsky. On the other side of the ball, defensive back Ryan Jackson and linebacker Chris D'Ambrosio lead the defensive charge. All five players have been members of the sprint football team every year since their arrival at Cornell in the fall of 2013.
 
FRESH FACES
The sprint football program may have graduated 23 seniors after last season, but they also added 25 new faces to the roster this fall. Co-head coach Bart Guccia says that the 14 freshmen, five sophomores, five juniors and one senior will be critical in filling out the depth chart behind the plethora of returning starters.
 
BIG RED REWIND
Cornell finished the 2015 season with a 4-3 record, its first season over .500 since 2012, and finished fourth overall in the CSFL standings. … Rob Pannullo returns at the quarterback position for Cornell and will look to build off of his junior year when he accounted for 1,045 yards, throwing for 605 and  running for another 440. He was fourth overall in the CSFL for total offense in 2015. … On defense, Cornell returns nine starters from 2015. Seven of the top 10 tacklers are back, including 2015 All-CSFL second team honoree linebacker Chris D'Ambrosio, whose 40 tackles and three sacks both led the Big Red last year, is back for his senior season.
 
ABOUT PENN
The Quakers are the only undefeated team in the CSFL entering the weekend. Penn opened up the season with a 31-7 victory at Mansfield and then topped defending champion Army, 14-9, in Philadelphia. After a 33-12 win over Franklin Pierce, the Quakers defeated the other service academy, Navy, 29-23. Penn enters the game against Cornell fresh off a 53-7 victory against Chestnut Hill. … Penn's pass offense is ranked first overall in the league and ranked third overall in both scoring offense and total offense. Jake Klaus leads the team in rushing with 194 yards. The Quakers have two receivers with over 430 receiving yards in Aidan Kelly and Andrew Sutton. Quarterback Mike McCurdy has 1,292 total passing yards and a 54.3 completion percentage. … Penn's defense is ranked fourth overall in the league while the pass defense and rush defense both ranked fifth overall. Tom Console has racked up 42 total tackles and has two interceptions and one fumble recovery.

THE SERIES WITH PENN
Despite dropping last year's matchup against the Quakers, 29-12, Cornell holds an all-time series lead of 59-38 over Penn since beginning the sprint football program in 1937. The Big Red's last victory over Penn came in 2012 in a five-hour, six-overtime thriller that saw Cornell come out on top, 43-24.